


After, and Before

by ThisWasInevitable



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Canon Universe, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Reader requests, indruck, local bear loves disaster moth, rating is for language, vaguely canon timeline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-09-18 23:11:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20321086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisWasInevitable/pseuds/ThisWasInevitable
Summary: Two reader requests for Indruck. One takes place after they've gotten together, and the other takes place before.





	1. Jackpot

**Author's Note:**

> A reader requested "Could you do an indruck version of that one video where the guy wakes up from surgery, forgets he married his wife and says “oh shit I hit the jackpot."

Indrid swallows down his twentieth pack of fruit snacks. Even in his human form, he can feel his wings vibrating in worry. 

He hates hospitals, sterile and coated in bad futures. He hates how easily damaged many of the people he loves are. 

He hates that his boyfriend having special powers does not, apparently, protect him from something called appendicitis. 

“Darlin, don’t worry, it’s a real normal procedure.” Duck had smiled at him, kissed him once, and then been carted off to the operating room. 

Indrid has checked the futures involving Duck every thirty seconds since he went in there. He envies the little children playing in a nearby, small, family waiting room. They’ve been given brightly colored distractions from the mortality of the ones they love.

He’s gauging how much trouble he’d get into if he joined them when-

“Mr. Newton?”

“It’s actually, nevermind, yes that’s me.”

“Your husband came out of surgery successfully, you can come see him if you like.”

He scurries down the hall after her, relief flooding his veins.

Several hours later, Duck is bundled into bed at the apartment, fading in and out of lucidity. 

Indrid is trying not to hover. Emphasis on trying. He brings him whatever he needs, keeps adjusting the pillows, stroking his hair and reading to him from the latest issue of _Outside_

“You’re really cute.” Duck slurs, smiling loosely at him.

“Thank you, my sweet. I find you adorable as well, even in your current state.”

“Oooooh, someone's flirtin.” Duck sing-songs.

“Duck, we’ve been dating for almost two years.”

“Holy shit we’re DATING?! Ow” Duck sits up excitedly, then winces and slumps back down. Indrid covers his mouth with the magazine, suppressing a giggle. 

“Yes, my love.”

“Wooooow.” Duck reaches out, and Indrid tips his face down to receive the touch. What he gets is an awe-struck, rather awkward series of pats on his cheek as Duck says, “I hit the jackpot.”

Indrid blushes, nuzzles the top of his head, “I’m glad you think so. You should nap, sweetheart, you need your rest.”

Duck snuggles down under the covers, pauses with a worried look, “you’ll still be here when I wake up?”

“Duck, I live here.”

“Really?” the ranger gasps, delighted and Indrid is starting to wonder just how much anesthetic and painkillers they gave him. He settles on petting Ducks hair, listening to him babble with less and less coherence until he falls asleep. 

Duck sleeps soundly for a few hours, leaving Indrid time to draw and clean up the apartment (if Ducks body has gone the same way as his brain, Indrid’s worried he may not be able to navigate around cat toys or dropped clothes).

There’s a groan from the bedroom and Indrid drops what he’s doing and hurries in.

“Are you alright?”

“Sore, mattress sucks.”

“I believe I can help.” Indrid slips of his glasses, sets them on the bedside table, and turns to find Duck staring, mouth agape, at his Sylph form. 

“Holy shit. There’s a mothman in the bedroom.”

“Yes, and there will shortly be one in the bed. Scooch over please.” 

Duck wiggles away to make space for Indrid on the bed, still watching him with wide-eyed excitement. Indrid lays down on his back, pats his stomach. It takes Duck a moment, but eventually he catches on and crawls onto him, nestling down against his feathers. Indrid can feel his heart beat, lets the steady pulse of it soothe the last of his worries. 

“You’re the mothman.” He whispers again, petting the edge of Indrids left wing, “that’s so fuckin cool.”

Indrid chirrs happily, wrapping his wings around Duck, who lets out a surprised laugh. As the laughter dies down he sighs, “I’m married to the mothman.”

“No, but you’re dating him.”

“Uh uh” Duck raises up to pout at him, “got you a ring and everythin. Real pretty one. Showed it to Aubrey to get her opinion.” 

Indrid sees the thread of that future, sees Duck nervously showing Dani and Aubrey the contents of a small box. He flicks away from that timeline, focuses back on the present. Duck is smiling sleepily at him, index finger lightly teasing the down along his neck and making him purr. 

“‘M so happy we’re married” Duck mumbles.

Indrid smiles but says nothing, rubbing his forehead against Ducks with a chirp. 

He resolves not to mention the conversation when Duck is more with it, and to not look at that timeline again. He’s learned that while it’s nice to be able to watch what’s coming to make sure things will be alright, there are times when a surprise is very welcome indeed.


	2. A Good Team

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "if you're still taking requests friend may i suggest: you found me in a Denny's parking looking worse for wear and you treat me to some pancakes and coffee. with Indruck "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note: Indrid has a run-in with the cops in this chapter trying to warn them about a disaster. It's implied that they think he's unwell and one of them is heading towards harassing him when Duck intervenes.

The conference wasn’t a total waste of time, but Duck really wishes they’d sent Juno as the representative for Monongahela instead of him. He can talk shop all day, but those things involve a little too much playing politics for his taste. 

He stops for gas about two hours away from home, having to pull onto the main drag of a town not much bigger than Kepler to find a gas station. 

The tank’s almost full and he’s contemplating whether he should grab some jerky and Gatorade for the road when there’s a commotion at the police station across the street. The doors burst open just as the pump clicks off and he hears someone yelling as he screws the gas cap back on.

“No, you’re not _listening_! Why would I lie about this? People are going to be hurt, please-”

“Sir, if you keep this up, we’re going to have to arrest you for disturbing the peace.”

“The peace is going to be extremely disturbed if you don’t listen to my warning. I know how I must look to you but I can prove it, if you’d just go check-”

“Sir.”

“Very well. I’m going.”

He knows that voice. Usually it doesn’t sound quite so upset. 

When he looks around the car, he sees Indrid Cold stalking across the street towards a Dennys, hands shoved angrily into the pockets of his sweater. Waiting for him in the parking lot is the Winnebago.

Duck hasn’t seen him since they saved the world from the Quell, the seer leaving Kepler shortly after to do...whatever it was Indrid did when he wasn’t making cryptic or ominous statements over the phone or in person. Maybe he should go check on him. The Sylph is still visibly agitated, and Duck can see his lips moving as he talks to himself. 

It’s when he spies the three police officers still watching Indrid intently that he makes his decision. 

By the time he’s driven from the gas station to the parking lot, two of the officers are approaching the trailer. Indrid’s head is tilted back, his face blank, as he scans the futures. 

“Mr Cold?” 

Indrid doesn’t respond.

The officers look at each other, shrug, and one shoves Indrid backward, causing him to collide with the side of the trailer. He yelps, flattening himself against the vehicle. 

“Ain’t polite to not answer a question.”

“I-”

“Indrid!” Duck waves with a cheer he doesn’t really feel. The officers look at him with surprise, Indrid with a relieved smile. 

“Hey, was just passin through and saw the ‘Bago. Wanted to make sure you were alright.”

“You know him?” The shorter cop says.

“Yeah, he’s a friend.” He notices Indrid inching away from the two men and towards him, “he ain’t in trouble, right? You guys wouldn’t hassle a fella who was just havin a bit of an, uh, anxiety attack.”

It’s one of Duck’s favorite tricks; assume the best of people and tell them you’re doing as much. It forces them to do what he wants or admit to being enough of an asshole that he can call them on it. 

The officers exchange a look before the taller one says, “fine then. Have a nice day, fellas.”

As they retreat, Indrid whispers, “thank you. I saw that future as a possibility, but in most of them you didn’t come over here. And I spent the night in jail.” He shudders.

“No way in hell I was gonna leave with you lookin so upset.” He runs a hand down Indrids back soothingly. There’s a soft chirp in response.

“Friend, huh?” Indrid says quietly. 

“Well, yeah. We saved the world together, kinda, twice. Think that makes us friends.”

There’s a gurgling sound and Indrid wraps an arm around his stomach.

“Hungry?”

“No, I’m alright.” Indrid grimaces as his stomach makes the same noise. Something tells Duck that Indrid will keep insisting he’s fine until he passes out.

“Are you willin to sit with a friend while he grabs a bite to eat?”

Indrid looks at him fully for the first time. He’s close enough that Duck can see his eyes behind his glasses, looking defeated and skittish. 

“C'mon” he takes his hand, guiding him towards the bright colored building, the seer following him like, well, like a moth following a flashlight, “won’t even tell anyone if you chug the thing of maple syrup.”

Indrid gives a sheepish laugh “Never again. I got a lifetime ban from several IHOPs before I learned not to do that. Honestly, why do they put it on the table if you’re not allowed to consume it?”

\------------------------------------------------- 

Indrid isn’t shaking anymore when Duck slides into the booth across from him. 

“Can I get you boys anything to drink?”

“Coffee, please.”

“And for you sir?”

“Um” Indrid is frozen, looking at Duck pleadingly.

“Cocoa?” Duck offers.

“Yes.” Indrid nods.

“You want whipped cream?” 

“Yes, please.” 

As the server departs Indrid looks down at the table, “Apologies, it’s been...awhile since I ate in a restaurant that wasn’t the lodge. Even things like choosing food feel challenging.” 

“Ain’t no need to apologize, seems like you’ve had a day of it.”

Another nod, Indrid twirling his spoon on the shiny table.

“You wanna talk about it?”

“I, well, after I met you all, I started trying to change bad futures again. What you did with the tree, with the sinkhole, with all of that you, you gave me back my hope that I had the power to stop horrible things from happening. Helping you save Kepler again, it only increased that feeling. But in the rush of hope, I forgot the realities of the world that had crushed it in the first place.” The seer stares out the window at the road leading out of town, at the highway and hills beyond.

The server brings their drinks, Indrid licking whipped cream miserably and shaking his head when Duck asks if he wants something to eat. Duck orders for himself. It’s only when she leaves that he continues.

“It’s going to rain tonight. And that rain has a 98% chance of causing a mudslide on the highway nearby, one of the worst in the states history. It’ll take out all the cars on the road, and the five houses down below it. Twenty-five dead.” He says flatly, looking at the dull, slate-colored sky, “They weren't like you. They didn’t listen. How I wish there were more like you.” This last part is barely audible over the clink of silverware and the chatter of other diners. 

“Indrid” Duck moves his hand across the table, stopping just shy of Indrids fingers, “You can’t beat yourself up for what other folks do. Or don’t do. You can yell and warn as much as you want, but some folks ain’t gonna listen. That ain’t on you. And even if you did everythin right, even if everyone listened to you every time, you couldn’t stop everythin bad that was ever gonna happen. Don’t think fate or destiny or any of that shit quite works like that.”

Indrids fingers brush his own, “But I have to keep trying.”

Duck draws his pointer finger along Indrids knuckles, “I ain’t disagreein with you there. But if it was me sittin here tellin you I was punishin myself because I didn’t use my visions and my powers to stop every bad thing that happened in Kepler, what would you tell me?”

“That such a task is not possible for one being and being angry with yourself for failing an impossible task is not a wise use of your time.” He pauses, a strange little smile tugging at his mouth, as he realizes what Duck got him to admit “you are a clever one, aren’t you Duck Newton?”

“Have my moments.”

“Many of them.” Indrid uncurls his fingers, reaching for him, then draws his hand back abruptly as the server appears with two immense plates, setting them down before Duck. The ranger tucks in to a pile of breakfast food while Indrid stares at the second plate.

“What is that?” 

Duck taps the ‘monthly specials’ card, “White chocolate strawberry pancakes.”

Indrids stomach rumbles again.

“Perhaps I should’ve ordered after all.”

Wordlessly, Duck slides the plate across to the thinner man. Indrid lifts his fork, takes a tentative bite.

“Jane, my sister, used to get real nervous sometimes, usually around tests and shit. We’d be out to eat and she’d say she didn’t want nothin. So I’d order an extra somethin just in case she changed her mind.”

Indrid smiles his first true smile of the night.

Duck raises his coffee cup.

“Cheers”

“Cheers.” Indrid raises his mug, clinking them together. 

They eat in silence, the comfortable kind of two people who feel no need to prove themselves to each other.

Duck finishes first, and Indrid pauses his devouring of carbohydrates to ask what brought him there. So he talks about the conference, about all the state and national parks and forests in the area trying to figure out how to handle new challenges. 

Indrid is listening intently, licking his plate, when the first raindrops hit the window. He goes still, face losing all it’s color. Looks back towards the road helplessly. 

“How much time do we have?”

“An hour at most.”

Duck grabs the check from the table, “I got an idea, c’mon.”

\------------------------------------------------------

Ten minutes later, the first of five houses on Mallard court receive a knock on their, and the residents open it to find a man in some sort of forestry uniform.

“Good evening,” The man smiles wide, raindrops skittering down his red glasses, “My name is Mr. Frost, and I’m with the county forest service. I’m afraid I need to order an evacuation of this area.” He flashes some kind of identification, one each and every resident is too confused to examine closely. 

“Uhhh” Says the man who answered the door.

“You see that hillside” Mr. Frost points up towards the highway, “has been badly compromised by the storm, and is likely to slide all the way down here and bury everything in its path. You needn’t get too far. The Aldi’s parking lot should be enough.”

The man hesitates, then nods, and calls for this kids to grab the dog and get in the car. 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

As Indrid continues impersonating a federal employee, Duck is busy causing a traffic jam. 

On the one end of the mudslides eventual width, he uses a combination of his strength and Beacon (who knew lugging him around would come in handy again some day) to block the road with debris. 

On the other, he flips the trailer in a half circle, as if he’d try to brake and spun out. And wouldn’t you know it, it’s stuck out in the middle of both lanes. Duck sets off the flares from his own cars' emergency pack, and waits. 

The first few cars see him and flip rather dangerous u-turns before heading back towards town. A hundred yards away, there’s the annoyed honking from a few cars that had been coming down the other direction only to be stopped by logs.

Soon enough, flashing red and blue lights are speeding through the rain towards him. 

And right on cue, in the now-dark sky, a black shape drops down behind the Winnebago. Duck hops out of the vehicle, glad he always keeps a raincoat in his trunk just in case. 

“Howdy officers. Uh, sorry about all this.” They'd agreed he would stick to apologizing, and leave any explanatory lies to Indrid. 

“What the hell happened here?”

“Hydroplaned” Indrid steps out of the trailer, in a tank-top and khakis, pulling on his raincoat as he does so, “unfortunate really, but these things happen, and I fear the brakes were damaged in the process.”

“Wait, ain't you the fella who was causin' a ruckus at the station?” One of the cops steps closer. 

Duck grabs Indrids hand instinctively, takes a half-step in front of him when there’s a god-awful rumble. 

The hillside goes in thick sheet of sludge and dead vegetation, coating the road and oozing down, down into the neighborhood below. 

“Oh my lord.” Says one officer.

“Jesus” says the other.

“My, my, who could have predicted that.” 

Duck glances beside him to find Indrid turning the full force of his strange smile on the other men. They simply back away, allowing Indrid and Duck to return to the Winnebago and get it heading back towards town. 

“Everyone get out?” He asks as Indrid pulls into the Dennys parking lot once more.

“They did.” Indrid shuts off the engine. And the he laughs, shaky at first but building into a cacophonous cackle of joy and amazement, and Duck is so charged from adrenaline and relief that he joins in.

“I can’t believe we did it. We stopped it from being a tragedy. We changed it, there was almost no possibility of alteration and we _did._” Indrid flops back with a sigh, still laughing a little, and turns his head to regard Duck in the passenger seat. 

“You know, Duck, earlier I wished there were more like you. Now I believe I was wrong; there are no others quite like you.”

“Aw, hell, Indrid” heat flows up his cheeks, “just did what had to be done. Lord knows I ain’t ever been one to put much stock in things bein fated to happen.”

“All the same, I owe you one.” 

“Could start by givin me back my pants. Like these sweats you loaned me, but those look like they’re about to fall off you, you’re so damn skinny. Told you, you shoulda taken my suspenders too.” Duck teases, giggles when Indrid sticks his tongue out at him. Turns his back out of courtesy, though he finds himself itching to turn around and see what Indrid looks like without them on. 

When Indrid finally taps him he turns, bringing them face to face. Indrid looks so much happier, and he’s gazing at Duck like he hung the moon. 

“Guess I, uh, oughta, uh, find a hotel or somethin, since I’m stuck for the night.”

“You can stay here, if you’d like.”

Duck smirks at the glint in Indrids eye, “your future vision tellin you that ends well?”

“Very.” Indrid leans in and kisses him, still tasting like strawberry syrup. He moves to pull away, to step back, but Duck loops his arms around him, kisses the last of the rain from his face. 

“I’ll stay as long as you like, darlin.”

“Careful, I may want to be by your side for awhile.”

“Think I can live with that.” He tilts Indrids glasses up carefully, revels in the affection he sees in those red-brown eyes, “after all, we make a good team.”


End file.
